Serb Who Attacked U.S. Embassy In Montenegro Was Pro-Russian, Ex-Yugoslav 'Soldier'

A profile photo from Facebook account in the name of Dalibor Jaukovic.

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Serb Who Attacked U.S. Embassy In Montenegro Was Pro-Russian, Ex-Yugoslav 'Soldier'

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Police in Montenegro have identified the man who carried out a hand-grenade attack against the U.S. Embassy in Podgorica as Dalibor Jaukovic, a Serbian-born Kosovo war veteran.

Jaukovic was a member of the Yugoslav armed forces in the late 1990s when the United States launched 78 days of air strikes against Serbia to bring an end to the 1998-1999 Kosovo war.

Jaukovic died when he detonated a second explosive device outside the embassy compound early on February 22 after throwing a Yugoslav-made M75 "Kashikara" grenade over the compound wall, police said.

Although Montenegro's government initially said Jaukovic committed suicide, authorities said later on February 22 that they were still investigating whether he accidentally set off the explosion that killed him.

Jaukovic, a resident of the Montenegrin capital of Podgorica, was born in 1976 in Kraljevo, Serbia, which is located about 50 kilometers north of Kosovo.

Montenegrin police said on February 22 that they were still investigating the motives for the attack, which came on the 10th anniversary of mass protests in Belgrade against Kosovo's declaration of independence in which demonstrators set the U.S. Embassy ablaze.

Resentment Toward U.S.

There are indications on Jaukovic's Facebook page that he felt strong resentment toward the United States for its air campaign against Serbia during the Kosovo war and its role as a strong advocate for Kosovo's independence from Serbia.

The United States was among the first countries to recognize Pristina's February 17, 2008 declaration of independence.

Photographs posted on Jaukovic's Facebook page include a medal and a certificate for his service in the "Defense and Security of the Federal Yugoslav Republic."

A picture posted on Dalibor Jaukovic's Facebook account showing a 1999 Kosovo war medal from then Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic.

The certificate, dated June 16, 1999 and carrying the signature of then Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, was awarded to Jaukovic less than a week after Milosevic ordered the withdrawal of Yugoslav forces from Kosovo following 78 days of NATO air strikes.

Milosevic gave the award to 4,200 veterans of the conflict.

The certificate indicates Jaukovic was a "soldier" but does not specify whether he served in the Yugoslav National Army (JNA) or was a member of paramilitary forces active in Kosovo during the 1998-99 Kosovo war.

Jaukovic was also a member of a Serbian-language Facebook group called "Russophiles," where on February 15 he posted the message: "Shame on Montenegro. Fascists are closer to us than Russians."

Anti-NATO Sentiments

In a May 2017 Facebook post, Jaukovic expressed his anti-NATO sentiments by declaring "No to NATO."

Jaukovic's Facebook posts also belittled Milo Djukanovic, the president of Montenegro during the Kosovo war who later became a pro-Western prime minister and put the country on its path to NATO membership.

A meme posted to Facebook by Jaukovic in 2016 features a well-known 1919 painting by Uros Predic called Kosovo Maiden, but with Djukanovic lying wounded among the soldiers who fell in the 1389 Battle of Kosovo.

A meme posted to Dalibor Jaukovic's Facebook account on January 2, 2018 depicts Montenegro's pro-Western ex-Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic lying wounded in the Field Of Blackbirds after the 1389 Battle Of Kosovo.

That medieval battle between the Serbian and Ottoman armies at northeastern Kosovo's so-called Field of Blackbirds had been used as a symbol by Milosevic and other Serb ultranationalists to rally support during the late 1980s and throughout the 1990s

Another political meme, posted to Jaukovic's page on January 2, expresses support of Marxism and Leninism.

Among the things Jaukovic listed among his "likes" on Facebook were a 1970s television series from Yugoslavia called Povratak Otpisanih -- The Return Of The Written-Off.

He also liked a Serbian-language Facebook group with more than 57,000 members called "Sometimes Life Breaks You So Much That You Don't Have The Strength To Fight Anymore."

Jaukovic declared on his Facebook page that he attended the "SSSh Ivan Uskokovic" technical school in Podgorica.